| RT | |
|---|---|
| Launched | December 10, 2005 |
| Owned by | ANO TV-Novosti |
| Picture format | 4:3 (576i, SDTV) |
| Slogan | Question More |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Arabic, English, Russian, Spanish |
| Broadcast area | Worldwide, via Cable, Satellite and Internet |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
| Formerly called | Russia Today |
| Sister channel(s) | Rusiya Al-Yaum, Russia 24, RTD |
| Website | RT.com |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview (UK) | Channel 85 |
| MHz Networks (Washington) | Channel 30.4 |
| Satellite | |
| Bell TV (Canada) | Channel 724 |
| Viasat | |
| Airtel digital tv (India) | Channel 311 |
| Indovision (Indonesia) | Channel 355 |
| yes (Israel) | |
| SKY Italia (Italy) | Channel 531 |
| GlobeCast World TV (North America) FTA | Channel 462 |
| Cyfra+ (Poland) | Channel 146 |
| NTV Plus (Russia) | |
| Freesat INDIA BIG TV= Channel no:461 (UK) | Channel 206 |
| Sky (UK) | Channel 512 |
| Sky (New Zealand) | Channel 096 |
| Dish Network (US) | Channel 280 |
| Cable | |
| Available on many cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
| IPTV | |
| Telus TV (Optik TV) (Canada) | Channel 573 |
| Hypp.TV (Malaysia) | Channel 2008 |
| mio TV (Singapore) | Channel 45 |
| TPG Telecom (Australia) | Channel unallocated |
| Internet television | |
| Live Webcast | Watch (Free, available in English) |
| Livestation | Watch (Free, 502 Kbit/s, available in English) |
RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned[1] state-run[2] RIA Novosti.
RT shows round-the-clock news bulletins, documentaries, talk shows, and debates, as well as sports news and cultural programs on Russia. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to other international news channels, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. In addition to the flagship English-language broadcast, it also runs Arabic and Spanish-language channels, and RT America, which is oriented to viewers in the United States. It broadcasts from its headquarters in Moscow and its studio in Washington, DC, and also has bureaux in Miami, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Delhi and Tel Aviv.
RT is the second most-watched foreign news channel in the United States, after BBC News.[3] By March 2010, its videos had garnered more than 83 million views on YouTube[4] and has also set a TV News Channel record after exceeding a view count on YouTube of half a billion.[5] It has 2,000 employees worldwide.[6]
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RT started broadcasting on December 10, 2005 with nearly 100 English-speaking journalists reporting for it worldwide.[7][8] It was the first all-digital Russian TV network,[9] and cost about $30 million in 2005 to set up and $60 million for its first year of operation,[7] Margarita Simonyan, RT's editor-in-chief, says the station was born out of the desire to present an "unbiased portrait of Russia."[9]
The network was launched by the autonomous non-profit organization ANO TV-Novosti in 2005, but much of the funding to this organization is injected from the Russian Federal Budget (2.4 billion rubles in 2007).[10][11] This is equivalent to 82.56 million August 8, 2011 U.S. dollars.
In August 2007, RT had television's first ever live report from the North Pole, which lasted 5 minutes, 41 seconds. An RT crew participated in the Arktika 2007 Russian polar expedition, led by Artur Chilingarov on the Akademik Fyodorov icebreaker.[12]
RT consists of its main RT International English-language channel, RT America, RT Arabic, Actualidad RT in Spanish, and RT Documentary.
| Channel | Description | Language | Launched in | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RT International | The flagship news channel of the RT network, and covers international and regional headlines from a Russian perspective. Based in Moscow with bureaus in New York, Washington, London, Miami, Los Angeles, Paris, Tskhinval, Delhi and Tel Aviv.[13] | English | 2005 | rt.com |
| RT America | It focuses on covering the Americas from an international and Russian perspective. Currently only broadcasts in the afternoon and evening. Based in RT's Washington, DC Bureau, RT America also has studios in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.[14] | English | 2010 | rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air |
| Rusiya Al-Yaum | Based in Moscow and broadcast 24/7. Programs include political, economic, cultural, sports stories along with movies, documentaries and feature broadcasts.[15] | Arabic | May 2007 | arabic.rt.com |
| RT en Español | Based in Moscow but relies heavily on its studios in Miami, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires. Covers headline news, politics, sports, and broadcast specials.[16] | Spanish | 2009 | actualidad.rt.com |
| RT Documentary | 24-hour documentary channel. The bulk of its programming is RT-produced documentaries related to Russia.[17] | English | June 2011 | rtd.rt.com/on-air/ |
RT is transmitted on thirteen satellites, covering Europe, Asia, the Americas, southern Africa and Australia.[18] Of these, eleven transmit the channel free to air, enabling it to be received without a subscription.[19]
Viewers in Russia can receive the channel as a part of the NTV Plus basic package as well as Kosmos TV.
In the UK and Ireland, the channel is available on the Sky platform's channel 512, including in the Freesat from Sky package. It is also available in the UK 24 hours per day on Digital Terrestrial platform Freeview channel 85 and also on Freesat channel 206.
In Italy, the channel is available via SKY Italia on channel 531.
In New Zealand, the channel is available via Sky Network Television on channel 96.
In ZA it's available via Multichoice's DStv Platform.
In the United States, the channel is available to digital customers of Time-Warner Cable in New York and New Jersey on channel 135 (channel 196 in upstate New York), in Los Angeles and the desert cities on channel 236, and in San Diego and North County on channel 222. Digital customers of Comcast can receive the channel in Chicago on channel 103, and in Washington, D.C. on channel 274. Digital subscribers to Buckeye CableSystem can receive the channel in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan on channel 266. The channel is also available in the Washington, D.C. area via Cox (channel 474), RCN (channel 33), and Verizon FIOS (channel 455). Portions of RT are additionally shown throughout the United States on MHz Worldview. Since MHZ Worldview is shown as a digital subchannel for some PBS stations. This makes RT available on digital terrestrial television in the United States. MHz Networks, which owns MHZ Worldview, does a complete simulcast of RT on one of the digital subchannels of WNVC, one of the two stations it owns in Northern Virginia. Over the air, it is shown on WYBE 35.3 in Philadelphia.
DISH Network broadcasts Russia Today across the US on channel 280 (Satellite 119).
In January 2010, RT became available in major cities in Western Canada through Shaw Cable. It also began appearing a couple months earlier in major cities throughout Eastern Canada from Rogers Cable.
Spanish speaking counties
The Spanish service of RT is available via cable and satellite signal. In Spain Digital+ offers RT in channel 312, the TV cable companyONO in channel 401 and Imagenio in channel 138. Movistar TV Digital broadcasts RT-Español in channel 744 in Chile, and in Colombia, Peru and Venezuela in channel 463. In Argentina some regional cable networks include RT in their packages.
A live stream of the channel offering a choice of three resolutions for differing capacity connections is available via the RT website. The stream is also available in English and Arabic through Livestation which can also be viewed on televisions using the Roku player. Video clips of some of the programming is available on the website. A lesser amount is also available on YouTube.
On March 2010, The Moscow Times stated that "some" believe the TV network broadcasts "Kremlin propaganda" around the world, but acknowledged that others viewed the TV network as an important alternative voice in the media.[4]
According to a variety of sources such as Der Spiegel and Reporters Without Borders, the channel presents pro-Kremlin propaganda.[20][21] A 2005 VOA report interviewed Anton Nosik, chief editor of a major English-language computer internet site in Russia, in which he described the creation of Russia Today as an idea smacking of Soviet-style propaganda campaigns, and also noted that the channel was not created as a response to any existing demand.[22] While another article in the Digital Journal called RT a "pro-Putin news outlet"[23] and its advertising campaign as "open propaganda war."[23]
A 2009 article by journalist Luke Harding for The Guardian reporting on RT's advertising campaign described the network as "unashamedly pro-Putin "[24] and part of the Kremlin's attempt to create a "post-Soviet global propaganda empire."[24]
An article published in The New Republic by James Kirchick characterized the news reportage of Russia Today as, "virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian leaders, and comical production values," that "can't help but revive the pettiness that was a distinctive feature of Soviet-era propaganda."[25]
An article by Accuracy in Media criticized RT as a "propaganda network funded by the Moscow regime of Vladimir Putin"[26] and charged that it "regularly features Marxist and radical commentators.[26] The article also cites the description of the network by former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky as “a part of the Russian industry of misinformation and manipulation” designed to mislead foreign audiences about Russian intentions."[26] Furthermore, Preobrazhensky argues that Russia Today utilizes methods of propaganda that are "managed by Directorate 'A' of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service" and that "the specialty of Directorate ‘A’ is deceiving world public opinion and manipulating it. It has got a lot of experience over decades of the Cold War."[26]
An editor for the Kyiv Post has noted criticism towards RT and its perceived anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian propaganda.[27] In December 2011 Andrew Osborn for the Daily Telegraph described RT as "the Kremlin's slavishly loyal English-language propaganda channel".[28]
The Economist magazine which classified RT's reporting as "weirdly constructed propaganda" has suggested that the channel has provided a platform to conspiracy theorists.[29] Julia Ioffe claims that Russia Today is a Kremlin propaganda outlet featuring "fringe-dwelling experts" and "was just a way to stick it to the U.S. from behind the façade of legitimate newsgathering."[30]
Ben Smith criticized an interview between Alex Jones and Russia Today discussing Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories and called Russia Today a "raw propaganda channel."[31]
During the 2008 South Ossetia War Russia Today correspondent William Dunbar resigned saying "the real news, the real facts of the matter, didn't conform to what they were trying to report, and therefore, they wouldn't let me report it."[32] Human Rights Watch said that the claim of 2000 South Ossetian casualties, announced by Russia Today,[33] was "exaggerated."[34] The Moscow correspondent for The Independent said that Russia Today's coverage of the war was "obscene", claiming that the channel was "extraordinarily biased" and had "instructed reporters not to report from Georgian villages within South Ossetia that had been ethnically cleansed."[35]
Russia Today staff have claimed that their coverage is to be "fair and balanced, not merely propaganda."[36]
Margarita Simonyan, the channel's editor-in-chief, has rejected the allegation that RT broadcasts "Kremlin propaganda" but acknowledged that it strives for a "Russian viewpoint".[4] She has claimed the channel welcomes controversy, as it "provides an alternative to mainstream media." [37] She has said the network "takes a pro-Russian position"[24] and has been unrepentant about RT's pro-Russian coverage of the 2008 Russian-Georgian war.[24]
In 2007, RT's share of monthly audience among NTV Plus viewers in Moscow exceeded those of CNN and Bloomberg.[38]
In December 2007, RT programs were displayed in New York on two large Times Square video screens operated by NASDAQ and Reuters; that year, RT's New Year's Eve program from Moscow and St. Petersburg was displayed live on the NASDAQ and Reuters screens.[38]
In June 2007, RT was one of the first Russian TV channels to have its own channel on YouTube, the leading video hosting site on the Internet. In January 2008, the total number of views for RT videos on YouTube was over 3 million, the sixth in Most Viewed Partners rating, behind CBS, BBC World, Al Jazeera English, France 24 and Press TV.[38] On Dec. 3rd, 2011 the total number of RT channel videos views reached 615,613,963, surpassing that of BBCWORLD (590,408,973), AlJazeeraEnglish (327,201,891), France 24 (25,407,317), Telesur (20,395,048), Euronews (16,727,526), PressTV (7,463,754), CNN International (4,745,823) and others.
In 2008, RT’s average monthly reach in Russia indicated a growth rate of 82% within just six months. Over the same period, the channel’s average daily reach grew by 46%. In the same year, the monthly audience among those who have access to or are aware of RT’s broadcasts on Time Warner Cable in NYC exceeded that of BBC America by 11%. The daily audience of RT exceeds that of Deutsche Welle tenfold, within the same network.[39]
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News anchors
Reporters
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Business Today presenters
Sport presenters
Program presenters
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Past presenters (all)
Past Reporters
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